Multi-Million Dollar Home Equity Line of Credit, Identity Theft and Computer Intrusion Ring Busted

NEWARK, N.J. – Law enforcement personnel in three states arrested four men this
morning who are charged with engaging in an international conspiracy to deplete millions
of dollars from U.S. victims’ home equity lines of credit using personal information
obtained through identity theft and unauthorized computer access, U.S. Attorney
Christopher J. Christie announced.
Today’s arrests bring to eight the number of individuals charged to date in New Jersey
with participation in the scheme, in which the defendants conspired to deplete available
funds from home equity lines of credit (“HELOCs”) belonging to identity theft victims,
either by engineering fraudulent wire transfers or by gaining unauthorized access to the
victims’ on-line bank accounts.
The four men arrested earlier today are Derrick Polk, 45, of Los Angeles, Calif.; Oludola
Akinmola, 37, and Oladeji Craig, 39, of Brooklyn, New York; and Oluwajide Ogunbiyi,
32, of Springfield, Ill., who were expected to make initial appearances in federal courts in
Newark, Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Springfield.
The defendants are part of a multi-national identity theft ring that operates in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea, among
other places. The defendants and their co-conspirators have acquired identity information
of thousands of victims and used that information to conduct numerous fraudulent
schemes, including depleting their victims’ home equity line of credit (HELOC) accounts.
The Complaints charge that co-conspirators have withdrawn more than $2.5 million from
HELOC accounts belonging to innocent customers of banks and credit unions, and have
attempted to withdraw at least approximately $4 million more in ultimately unsuccessful
transfers from HELOC accounts.
The Complaints charge that the defendants and their co-conspirators initiated the HELOC
fraud by gaining access to confidential customer and account information used by
customers of banks, credit unions, and credit card issuers to conduct financial transactions
in the United States. This information included account holder names, addresses, dates of
birth, account numbers, Social Security numbers, and account balances. Other account
information frequently obtained by the co-conspirators during the course of the fraud
included mothers’ maiden names, security question answers, on-line user names,
passwords, and other data used by banks and lending institutions to service and secure
customer accounts.
According to the Complaints, the defendants and their co-conspirators compromised
confidential customer account information relating to several large and small banks,
credit unions, and credit issuers throughout the United States. The larger institutional
victims identified in the Complaint included Citibank, JPMorganChase, Wachovia,
Washington Mutual, and Bank of America, among others. Dozens of smaller banks and
credit unions have also been victimized, including the Navy Federal Credit Union,
Pentagon Federal Credit Union, U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union, the State Department
Federal Credit Union, and at least approximately eleven New Jersey-based financial
institutions.
Each of the defendants is charged in a three-count complaint with conspiring to possess
personal identification information with the intent to commit wire fraud (Count 1);
conspiring to commit wire fraud (Count 2); and conspiring to gain unauthorized access to
computers (Count 3). If convicted of charges in the complaint, each defendant would
face a maximum of 50 years’ imprisonment and up to $1.5 million in fines.
The investigation to date has resulted in separate complaints brought between August and
October 2008 against Hakeem Olokodana, 41, and Yomi Jagunna, 44, both of Queens,
N.Y.; Abayomi Lawal, 45, of Brooklyn; and Daniel Yummi, 40, of New York. These
four men were also charged with conspiring to identify HELOCs with large balances and
to acquire all of the confidential customer information necessary to transfer money out of
victim accounts.
To further the fraud and to avoid detection, co-conspirators routinely traded confidential
customer information such as Social Security numbers, mother’s maiden names, and online
banking passwords over e-mail; impersonated bank customers through a process
known as “social engineering”; used technology to disguise caller identification
information; and changed customer address information in bank files. Proceeds from the
scheme, which currently exceed at least approximately $2.5 million, made their way to
conspirators in Japan, Nigeria, Canada, South Korea, among other countries.
In connection with this morning’s arrests, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
also executed three search warrants in Illinois and New York. Additional search warrants
have been executed in New York and California in furtherance of the investigation.
“Home equity lines of credit are an expanding front in the battle against mortgage fraud,”
Christie said. “Home owners should carefully review their statements to make sure their
hard-earned equity is not disappearing from under their noses.”
“Mortgage fraud affects the soundness of our credit markets,” Christie said. “We must be
vigilant against those who would threaten the American dream of home ownership.”
A criminal Complaint is merely an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent
unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Christie credited the Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Weysan Dun, for their work in the investigation. Christie also thanked Special
Agents of the U.S. Secret Service and the IRS Criminal Investigations Division.